Sports Gamer Archive - December 2011

The game industry moves at a fast clip. Case in point: 2011 isn't even in our rearview mirror yet and already everyone is buzzing with excitement about the 12 months that are ahead of us. So which video game-related stories should be on your radar? Which games should you think about pre-ordering now? You're going to find out in 3...2...1...

Week in and week out the very best sports-centric video games and peripherals cross the Sports Gamer's desk. Some of those games and peripherals, as you know from my regular column, are absolutely awesome, while others are merely OK. (And, in some extreme cases, some make for good paper weights and that's it. Quick question: Who even uses paper weights these days? Who has papers just blowing around the room all the time that they actually need a weight to hold them down? Anyone?) Without further ado, here's a list of some of my favorite things from 2011. Enjoy the holidays, game fans.

The question on everyone's mind here at the SI Kids office is this: Does Mario Kart 7 technically qualify as a racing game?

The "yes" people say this:
-It has a gas button and a brake button.
-It has tracks (32 in total in this version) to race on.
-It uses the words "grand" and "prix," two words that are typically only associated with racing games.

The "no" people say this:
-The "drivers" are usually monkeys, plumbers, and mushroom-headed creatures.
-The "cars" transform into hang gliders on occasion.
-A driver can deploy an ink-spewing squid to slow down another driver.

Regardless of whether you are a "yes" person or a "no" person, one thing I think that we can all safely agree on is this: Mario Kart 7 is a lot of fun, and an absolute must-own for any Nintendo 3DS owner out there.

While the jury is still out on the subject of whether or not 3-D will continue to be a big part of movie-going and gaming, Sony's latest gaming 3-D "monitor" (if you want to use it as a TV, you'll have to attach a separate tuner), technically known as the PlayStation 3D Display ($499), has hit stores. So is it worth the dough? The Sports Gamer took it out for a test drive to find out.

Still haven't sent your wish list to Santa yet? Neither have I. Which is good, because I recently found something that's perfect for giving and receiving this year.

Last week OnLive announced a suite of nice-priced holiday gaming packages. No doubt you're asking yourself, "Hey, Sports Gamer, refresh our memories--what the heck is 'OnLive'?" OnLive, for those who have forgotten, is an on-demand gaming service. Same way that you can order movies on-demand through cable, OnLive permits you to play games. Instead of investing in a noisy, expensive console that--cough, cough, Xbox 360, cough--threatens to break down at every turn, OnLive requires that you have only a decent 'Net connection, an HDTV, and a controller. That's it.